VERIFY: Did Sarah Sanders share a doctored video of Jim Acosta?

There are questions surrounding a video that the White House press secretary shared to justify revoking a CNN reporter's press credentials.

Author:
Jason Puckett, David Tregde

Published:
1:21 PM CST November 8, 2018

Updated:
5:45 PM CST November 8, 2018

In a video tweeted by White House Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders, CNN White House correspondent Jim Acosta appeared to push, or possibly hit, a White House intern when she tried to take the microphone from him during a tense exchange with President Donald Trump on Wednesday.

Later that day, Acosta's press credentials were suspended. In a different tweet, Sanders explained why: "We will, however, never tolerate a reporter placing his hands on a young woman just trying to do her job as a White House intern..."

After Sanders shared the video and explanation, some claimed her video was "doctored" and showed a different version of what really happened.

You can watch the video Sanders shared here:

We stand by our decision to revoke this individual’s hard pass. We will not tolerate the inappropriate behavior clearly documented in this video. pic.twitter.com/T8X1Ng912y

Self-proclaimed editing experts took Sanders' video and compared it to C-SPAN's recording of the interaction.

1) Took @PressSec Sarah Sanders' video of briefing2) Tinted red and made transparent over CSPAN video3) Red motion is when they doctored video speed4) Sped up to make Jim Acosta's motion look like a chop5) I've edited video for 15+ years6) The White House doctored it pic.twitter.com/q6arkYSx0V

Those accusing Sanders of sharing a doctored video claimed that the edits increase the speed at which Acosta appears to touch the intern and make "Acosta's motion look like a chop."

THE QUESTION

Sign-up for the #HTown Rush Newsletter

Thank You for signing up for the #HTownRush Newsletter

Something went wrong.

This email will be delivered to your inbox once a day in the morning.

Please make sure to check your email inbox for an email to confirm the signup process.

Please try again later.

Was the video posted by press secretary Sanders different than the C-SPAN version? If so, was it doctored to appear that way?

THE ANSWER

We can VERIFY without a doubt that the video posted by Sanders is different than the recording from C-SPAN and other outlets. There are freeze frames and accelerated motion that don't appear in other videos.

But, that does not necessarily mean the video was doctored or edited to have those effects.

WHAT WE FOUND

VERIFY ran our own version of the tests mentioned in social posts above.

We identified two-to-three frozen frames and what appeared to be accelerated motion in the clip right around the point when Acosta and the intern touched arms.

When you line up the C-SPAN video and Sanders' version side-by-side, or even overlay them, there's no doubt the the clips are slightly different.

But that is not definitive proof the clip was doctored. As a few individuals pointed out, the discrepancies could also be due to video compression or the dropping of a few frames when formats were changed.

OK, I have been looking at this all morning - here's C-Span vs. the InfoWars clip from @PrisonPlanet that the White House tweeted. Any changes, if they did make them, would be incredibly minor - and possibly due to working across framerates and compressions pic.twitter.com/4FasYDZv4a

The video Sanders posted is identical to a video posted by Paul Joseph Watson, an InfoWars editor. He claimed he made the video by taking a .gif and converting it into a video format. You can see his Twitter defense by clicking here.

We created our own test to show how converting .gif files to video and back can create degradation in the overall video and often leads to motions that appear quicker or slower.

We're VERIFYING whether the clip @PressSec tweeted out was a "doctored" video as many outlets are claiming.